"Harley, Peter, Morgan! Stop bothering the princess! Howie! Stop tugging on the other princess' hair!" Tony shouted to all the kids, flipping burgers and turning hotdogs at the grill.
"Oh, let them be." I smiled, kissing his cheek. "The older three are just asking Shuri questions. And look, Frig got Howie back all on her own."
"Hun, she just shoved him into the lake."
"We have towels inside." I shrugged, sighing when my husband raised a brow. "All right, fine, I'll go do something. Hey, Alex!"
The redhead quickly stopped her conversation with Wanda, Bucky, and Loki to look at me, walking toward me when I motioned her over.
"It looks like Howie tugged on Frig's hair, and in retaliation, your kid pushed mine into the river." I bluntly stated, making the girl try to hold back a laugh.
"I'm so sorry." She breathed out. "I'll talk to her-"
"No, I'm not mad or anything. She was just standing up for herself." I quickly cut her off. "I just wanted it to look like we were actually talking about doing something about it in front of Tony."
Alex's eyes widened a bit in understanding, glancing over my shoulder to look at my husband, nodding her head.
"All right, then. What would you like me to do, though?"
"You mind just lightly telling your kid not to get mine dirty or wet? I don't wanna have to do a bunch of laundry." I smiled.
"Of course." She chuckled, and the two of us walked over to our kids, who were laughing side-by-side.
"Frig!" Alex shouted, her face fainting anger as she put her hands on her hips. "Jeg trenger at du ser opprørt på meg og stikker av til faren din. Tony var ikke glad for at du dyttet Howie i vannet, så vi må få det til å se ut som om jeg straffer deg. Forstå?"
"Ja, mamma" The miniature Alex frowned, storming off toward her father.
"What did you tell her?" I asked, crossing my own arms.
"Just that she needed to act upset and go see her father since Tony didn't like how she pushed Howie into the water."
"Ah, alright." I nodded. "Come on, Howie hun. Let's go get you into fresh clothes."
"Okay, mama!" the boy smiled, his brown hair sticking to his forehead, just as his clothes to his skin.
I chuckled as the boy walked inside with me, waving to Frig on the way in.
"Hey, Alex! How's it going out there?" Pepper asked as I sent Howie to his room to change.
"It's going well. The little ones got into a bit of a mishap, so Howies changing now." I chuckled, motioning toward the wet footprints now littering my floor.
"I remember those days." Pepper laughed, before getting quiet. "I just wish I had more of those days."
I sighed as I walked up to the woman, pulling her into a hug.
"I'm really sorry you couldn't see Morgan these past few years, but, if you wanna look on the bright side, you missed the grumpy, sassy, teenage years. You should have seen Morgan, arguing every chance she got, sneaking out... I'm not really helping, am I?"
"No, not really." Pepper chuckled, the two of us pulling away. "But thanks anyway."
"Any time." I winked, the two of us turning toward the sound of running feet.
"All changed, mama!" Howie proudly stated, puffing his chest out.
"Kid, your shirts on backward and inside out." I chuckled, the boy's face going red in embarrassment. "Hold on. Let me help."
"Hey, Avery." Pepper stopped me as we moved to go outside, Howie's shirt having now been fixed. "Don't forget about my offer. I never liked Richardson, anyway. I only kept him on since he's been working there for so long."
"I'll definitely think about it, Pep. Thank you." I smiled.
The two of us finally headed back outside, and I noticed how Howie headed straight for Frig when he rushed out. Pepper headed over to Rhodey while I walked to my husband, my arms going around his waist as I kissed his shoulder.
"Well?"
"It's all taken care of," I smirked, glancing over to the two kids running around the yard. "You need to loosen up a bit. It's all over. We're all here, we're all okay. We can fully settle down now."
"What, was how we were living not fully settled? We got married and had a kid Peg." He turned a bit to look down at me.
"You know what I mean." I chuckled.
"Yeah, all right. You sure you want to give up your position of the company? Pepper said it herself, she'd be happy to let you keep it."
"No, I don't think so. Pep is much stronger than I am to be able to do that job and not completely lose her mind."
Tony hummed in understanding as he plated the last of the food.
"She did offer me a job, though. As the new COO."
"God, she probably needs a new one. I can't stand Dickardson." He mumbled, making me chuckle.
"It's Richardson, and you know it." I lightly swated his shoulder. "I don't know if I should take it, though."
"Why not?" Tony finally turned to look at me, his now free hands moving around my waist.
"Becasue..." My husband gave me a knowing look as I trailed off. "Well, what about Howie? I don't wanna not be in his life or anything from working too much."
"Peg, I'm sure Pepper will let you work from home for the most part. It's not like you'll be needed at the office anyway, as COO." He shrugged. "And that way, you won't miss anything."
I sighed as I placed my head against his chest, ignoring the metal that dug against my forehead.
"So. You gonna do it?"
"Yeah," I mumbled, sending a smile to Pepper when she looked our way.
"Yeah, I'll do it."